Angels, Messengers of God
“Let brotherly love continue. Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.” Hebrews 13:1-2
Everyone has their own ideas about what an angel is. Some people believe correctly that angels are messengers of God who serve Him in different capacities, and some believe that every person has an angel assigned to him or her. There is nothing in scripture that supports the idea of a personal angel, although those of us who are born again do have the Holy Spirit, the third person of the trinity and not an angel, residing within our souls who does help, warn, comfort, and guide us. However, scripture makes it clear that there are angels who have visited earth from time to time to deliver messages to those whom God is about to use in some way to further His kingdom. Probably the best well-known angel in scripture is Gabriel whom God sent to give Mary the good news that she would bear Jesus, the Savior of the world. Scripture says that she saw him, thus he was not some invisible being, but rather apparently appeared as a human. Gabriel was also the angel who appeared to Zacharias to announce that he and his wife, Elisabeth, would be the parents of John the Baptist, the one who would go before Christ to introduce Him to the world. Zacharias also saw Gabriel as he stood by the altar of incense in the temple.
Another named angel in scripture is Michael, the arch angel, the chief angel of all the angels. He is the special guardian of the Jews and will defend them during the seven-year period of tribulation (Jeremiah 30:5). Gabriel’s chief tasks are to minister to humans on earth, while Michael’s task is to go against Satan in God’s name and His strength. In Revelation 12:7, we are told that Michael will fight in heaven against Satan. Speaking of Satan, he, too, was an angel in heaven who was called Lucifer, but rebelled against God and was cast out of heaven along with his followers (Isaiah 14:12-15). As of now, he is free to roam the earth looking for those that he can devour (I Peter 5:8), but he will eventually be cast into the lake of fire never to be heard from again (Revelation 20:10). The New Testament gives us examples of people who were possessed with Satan’s demons who were cast out by Jesus. I think that demons are still possessing people today because of some of the horrendous crimes and ungodly acts that we are hearing so much about.
We never know who we might cross paths with any given day. What may seem like an insignificant encounter could change the direction of our lives forever. We never know who God may place before us as we busily make our way through the day, working, driving, shopping, etc. Our tendency is to ignore those who may need a helping hand. We don’t want to get involved. Of course, we have to be cautious because there are plenty of scam artists out to trick us out of our money. I have been scammed more than once, but I am not the one to give an account of that; that falls on the one who lies about his or her need. Sometimes God sends angels to us as a test of our faith. How we treat others, those known to us and those who are strangers, is a measure of our commitment to Christ.
There are times, too, when God sends angels to help us, although we may not recognize that it was an angel. Years ago, my Dad was working a part-time job cleaning up a laundromat at night. This particular night, he mopped the floors, cleaned out the dryers, and was about ready to go home when some teenagers came into the laundromat. There was a small video game arcade in the corner of the room, and the young men didn’t want to leave. They began to hassle my Dad, but then this man, tall and dressed in a cowboy hat, came into the laundromat and ran them out. He even followed my Dad home to make sure he was safe. Perhaps that was just some man who just happened to be at the right place at the right time, or perhaps he was an angel unawares. Whatever he was, I am grateful to him for protecting my Dad.
While we may not have a specific guardian angel to watch over us, we know that God can send an angel or a multitude of angels to protect us from dangers both seen and unseen. There’s no telling at how many times that God sent one of His ministering spirits to keep us from an accident or to keep someone from causing harm to us. In Psalm 91:11-12, Moses wrote, “For He shall give His angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways (in daily life). They shall bear thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone.” God not only sent a King to save us from our sins, He sends angels, who were made higher than humans (Psalm 8:5), to protect us. God really loves us.